SOUTH African government and sporting officials dismissed allegations the country
paid bribes to win the right to host the 2010 soccer World Cup.

“We are very clear that
when it comes to the FIFA 2010 World Cup, there is nothing on our side that
could implicate our government,” Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula told reporters
in Johannesburg.

The speculation about
South Africa’s involvement in bribery is “reckless at best,” he said.

South Africa twice paid
bribes to ensure it won the bid to stage the 2010 World Cup tournament, the
US Justice Department alleges in an indictment it unsealed on Wednesday.

The first time, a bid
committee official sent a briefcase full of bundles of $10,000 stacks to Jack
Warner, then president of Central and North American soccer body Concacaf, via
a Paris hotel drop to an intermediary, according to the indictment.

While South Africa also
promised $10 million to Warner’s Caribbean Football Union, it was “unable to
arrange for the payment to be made directly from government funds” so FIFA
paid.
Warner diverted a “substantial portion of the funds” for his personal
use, the Justice Department says.

“There has never been
any suggestion that anything untoward happened in South Africa,” Minister in
the Presidency Jeff Radebe told reporters in Cape Town on Thursday.

“When we
concluded the World Cup, we got a clean audit report from Ernst and Young.”

Warner, who stood down
from all soccer posts in 2011, said in a statement that he was innocent of any
charges.

“I know nothing about
it; my total sponsorship over that period of time wasn’t even close to” that
amount, Raymond Hack, who was the chief executive officer of the South African
Football Association at the time and a bid committee member, said by phone from
Zurich on Thursday.

“We had the best
presentation,” said Hack, who is now a member of FIFA’s disciplinary committee.
“We proved that we organised the best World Cup ever.”

‘Main actors in movie’

Mbalula said he hadn’t
yet seen the indictment and wanted to study it before he commented
conclusively.

“We’re told that we’re
the main actors of this movie, whereas the main actor is FIFA,” Mbalula said.
“We shouldn’t be the ones victimised deliberately and unavoidably in this
process.”

The Democratic Alliance,
South Africa’s main opposition party, called on Parliament’s sports committee
to summon SAFA President Danny Jordaan and other soccer officials to respond to
the allegations.

Jordaan, who was elected as mayor of the city of Port Elizabeth
on Thursday, wasn’t available for comment.

SAFA spokesman Dominic
Chimhavi also defended South Africa’s legacy on his Twitter account.

“No need to press any
panic button regarding the FIFA 2010 World Cup,” he said. “Terrible
thumb-sucking from individual making those wild allegations.”

Three African football chiefs were among those caught up the probe after they were named as among those who will be questioned by Swiss authorities.

The trio, Africa’s top football boss Issa Hayatou, Jacques Anouma of the Ivory Coast and Egypt’s Hany Abo Rida are all current members of Fifa’s executive.

Switzerland’s attorney general said the three Africans would be among 10 members of Fifa’s executive body who would be questioned about “criminal mismanagement and money laundering” which occurred on its soil.

There is no allegation of their impropriety, with the Swiss statement saying they would “be questioned as persons providing information”.